The Town of Medfield is at the cusp of one of its most momentous decisions ever, whether to buy the former Medfield State Hospital site. Given that in my role a selectman I have gone to literally scores of meetings about the MSH over twelve years, I thought that I should share what I learned and what I have concluded.
First I conclude that the town absolutely should buy the MSH site. Buying is all about the town controlling the choices, rather than the state or others choosing the development that will happen in our town, since development will happen there whether we buy it or do not.
Second, the $3.1m. price is not too high, especially if compared to the possible costs for municipal services to the site’s residents for generations if the town does not control the ultimate development. The state will finance the $3.1m. price, with the interest baked in, over ten years, so that we pay $310,000 per year
Town control gets us the type of uses and development the town both needs and wants. There is so much open space and recreational lands in that area that will remain in state control, that those uses will continue to be available in spades – town development will only be on the areas that are already built upon. While any town development will be decided upon by residents later, in my mind it should be a mixed use development, mainly residential, with small amounts of retail and commercial space, with the housing being small attached units for one or two person households, empty nesters, or older residents looking to down size. Importantly, this is the sort of housing that the town generally lacks, but also, more importantly, it is housing that can make money for the town, because such housing will not require expensive town services.
The time is right to make this deal, as no one can predict whether the new Governor who takes over in January 2015 will continue to let the town buy the site. In the past the town has been refused the purchase option.
After purchase, the town’s cost to own the property until redevelopment occurs should not be too high. I suggest doing without the 24/7 security the state employed, in favor of limiting access to the site by physical barriers, install monitoring cameras, and having the Medfield Police do limited patrols. Beyond that I would have our DPW keep the buildings sealed up. The lands the town is buying have already been environmentally cleansed. The only remaining hazard issues on those lands are the asbestos and lead paint in the buildings, and those will be removed when the buildings are demolished. Ideally the town will let the town selected developers demolition the buildings. DCAMM, who contracts for similar demolitions all the time, says developers pay $6 per sq. ft. to do demolitions, all in, whereas prevailing wages mean the town would pay $11-14 per sq. ft. There remain about 600,000 sq. ft. of buildings at the site.
Lastly, the development gives the town the opportunity to both get the development it most desires, but also perhaps to make some money. The state’s partnership model has the state getting a 30-50% share of any resale. The site will be improved by the state’s river clean up and the new park area to be built on the adjoining state lands.
In sum, for short money we gain control and we get what the town wants, with an outside chance to make some money.
Osler L. Peterson, Selectman
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